Friday, June 22, 2012

Bazooka
Round: After an
alarm on checked baggage at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW), TSA Officers discovered an
old military bazooka round. Not knowing if this was live or inert, Law
Enforcement Officers established a 100-foot perimeter around the item and
evacuated the baggage area and terminals near the item. An explosive
ordinance disposal team put the item in a containment box and moved it to a
remote location where they deemed the item inert. After all was said and done,
5 flights were delayed 1 hour, 23 minutes, affecting an unknown number of
passengers. This is why we highly encourage people to contact us before flying with items such as this before they
get to the airport, so they don’t inconvenience themselves and others. On a
related note, do you know how the bazooka got its name? It was named after it’s
resemblance to a novelty instrument played by 1930’s era comedian Bob Burns.

IED
Training Aid Discovered at Norfolk – An
Improvised Explosive Device (IED) training aid was discovered in a passenger’s
checked baggage at Norfolk (ORF).As I’ve said before, we’re all too
familiar with instructors and other people in this type of business needing
these types of items for their jobs, but as with all inert training items and
replicas, we don’t know they’re not real until we’ve gone through all the
motions. These motions can include evacuated baggage areas and closed
checkpoints which lead to delays and missed flights. People that need to travel
with INERT items should plan ahead and contact their preferred shipper about
mailing the training aids to their destination.

Holy
Bat Stars, Batman
– These bat stars are exactly what you would need in your arsenal when fighting
diabolical crime, however, they’re not OK to take on a plane. These were found
at San Diego (SAN). Throwing stars were also discovered at AUS, DCA, and SEA
and throwing knives were discovered at LAX.

Eau
de Kaboom – A
bottle of cologne in the shape of a grenade was discovered in a passenger’s
carry-on bag at San Diego (SAN). On the X-ray, it looked like a regular hand
grenade, so it took time to clear. In addition, two training grenades
were discovered after an alarm in checked baggage at Norfolk (ORF).The
passenger at ORF also had 4 magazines loaded with 120 .223 rounds. And if
that’s not enough, two other inert grenades were discovered in a carry-on bag
at Savannah (SAV). Read here
and here
for more information on why inert items cause problems at checkpoints. We don’t
know they’re inert until we check them out and checking them out can often
inconvenience your fellow passengers.

Body
Scanner Discoveries This Week –
There were a total of 13 illegal and prohibited items discovered this week with
the body scanners at AVP, EWR, BTV, 2 for OGG, SEA, FAI, PHX, 3 for SFO, SMF,
and BDL. Among the items were drugs and drug paraphernalia, but one of the
passengers was loaded for bear!!! After alarming the body scanner, a large
can of bear mace was found concealed in the passenger’s sock at Newark
(EWR).Finding these types of items in areas where explosives could also
be hidden is a testament that the technology works.

Items
in the Strangest Places - It’s
one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you
intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could wind up being cited or even
arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where
passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.

A knife
was discovered wrapped in a towel and concealed in a water bottle at Denver
(DEN). The passenger admitted they were trying to sneak it past our officers.

Two cane
swords were discovered at Las Vegas (LAS).

A knife
was found concealed inside a hollowed out book at Kahului (OGG).

Marijuana
was discovered taped inside of a book after a checked baggage alarm at
Philadelphia (PHL).

Brass
knuckles were discovered concealed under multiple rolls of quarters in a gift
box at Philadelphia (PHL). The passenger admitted they were trying to sneak it
past our officers.

People
Say the Darndest Things –
Here is an example of what not to say at the airport. Statements like these not
only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience lots of other
passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated:

A
passenger at Kansas City (KCI) who was frustrated after being on standby
stated: “I’m going to go get a gun and shoot everybody if I don’t make this
flight.”

Stolen
Laptop in Tampa Recovered in New York – After reporting her laptop missing, TSA at Tampa
(TPA) reviewed the checkpoint video footage and observed a passenger taking the
laptop and placing it in their bag. Thanks to the footage, a description was
provided and the thief’s flight was met at LaGuardia by NY Port Authority
Police and TSA. The passenger confessed and the laptop was eventually returned
to its rightful owner.

Miscellaneous
Prohibited Items -
In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers
also found firearm components, realistic replica firearms, stun guns, brass
knuckles, ammunition, batons, and oodles of knives.

Firearms
- Here are the
firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

Unfortunately
these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about
these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are
finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the
throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up
with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder
to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on
an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law
enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had
these items.